Fire & Blood, Being a History of the Targaryen Kings of Westeros: The Regency and Reign of Aegon III by Archmaester Gyldayn
Aegon III Targaryen has a slightly negative reputation amongst the maesters. Although his reign saw Westeros gradually recover from the Dance of the Dragons, he had a dour personality and never made any royal progresses, causing the nobility and smallfolk alike to view him as a brooding king that cared little for his subjects. Some have speculated that Aegon's attitude was because of the trauma he suffered during the Dance, citing his dislike of the Kingsguard and the Royal Fleet. Despite his melancholy and apathy, nearly all maesters agree that Aegon III was by no means a terrible king, and the realm enjoyed an era of much-needed stability after the chaos of civil war thanks to his small council.
When Aegon ascended the throne at the end of the Dance of the Dragons, he was only one and ten years old, five years younger than the age of majority. As such, a series of regents ruled in his stead for five years until 136 A.C. This period would be known for the factionalism and infighting between the regents and members of the small council, and harsh winter that would last until 135 A.C. only worsened the situation. The original regency consisted of seven members: Lady Jeyne Arryn, Lord Royce Caron, Ser Torrhen Manderly, Lord Manfyrd Mooton, Grand Maester Munkun, Lord Corlys Velaryon, and Lord Roland Westerling, representing the Citadel and the six regions under the Iron Throne.
The first major action the regency undertook was the marriage of Princess Jaehaera Targaryen and King Aegon III Targaryen on the seventh day of the seven moon of 131 A.C. This was a largely symbolic marriage meant to enforce the peace between the blacks and the greens by marrying together a member of the blacks, Aegon III, and a member of the greens, Jaehaera. Due to both Targaryens' age, the marriage was not consummated and would never be consummated as Jaehaera committed suicide two years later.
The following month saw the appointment of the various commanders of the Kingsguard and the new Hand of the King and Protector of the Realm. Aegon III was disinterested in these appointments, and merely agreed with his regents on selecting the new commanders of the Kingsguard. However, Aegon III banished most of the Kingsguard from King's Landing to the Aegonforts, leaving only a small honor guard of seven officers in the capital. Grand Maester Munkun speculated that the Kingsguard brought up traumatic memories of Rhaenyra's death and the massacre on Dragonstone for Aegon, and that motivated his decision to remove the Kingsguard from the capital. The other appointees were approved without controversy, resulting in Ser Tyland Lannister becoming the Hand of the King and Lord Leowyn Corbray becoming the Protector of the Realm. With these appointments, Aegon III retired from the public eye for a couple of years.
In 132 A.C., Lord Corlys Velaryon died from natural causes, ending the life of one of the most prominent men in Westerosi history. For his services to the kingdom, Aegon III had him laid in state under the Iron Throne for a week, an honor which no one else has ever been granted before or since. Then, Marilda of Hull and her son, Alyn Velaryon, transferred Corly's remains to Driftmark, with all ships of the Royal Navy currently stationed at King's Landing firing a salute in honor of Corlys. There, his remains were loaded on his legendary ship, the Sea Snake, and he was buried at sea in accordance with his final wishes. Such an end is fitting for the man who discovered the most profitable trading route in the known world, circumnavigated the globe, and served the realm loyally for nearly eighty years.
Several other members also stepped down from the regency due to their own commitments that same year. Following increased Dornish raids spurred on by Princess Aliandra Martell, Lord Royce Caron resigned from his post to deal with the Dornish guerrillas and defend the marches. Ser Torrhen Manderly resigned from his post after the deaths of his father and brother, leaving for White Harbor to take charge of building a new fleet for the Starks, the first true navy the North would have after Brandon the Burner torched the ships of his father.
The next year, the small council and regency were further rocked by a series of changes. Ser Tyland Lannister died from the Winter Fever and was replaced by Lord Unwin Peake. Lord Roland Westerling also died that year, with Lord Thaddeus Rowan assuming his position on the council of regents. Lord Dalton Greyjoy, known as the Red Kraken due to his sponsorship of privateers during the Dance of the Dragons that crippled the trade of the Hightowers and Lannisters, was killed by a girl named Tess. Tess' parents were killed by a privateer during the Dance of Dragon, so she vowed to exact revenge on the Greyjoys. She proceeded to travel to Pyke, seduce Lord Dalton Greyjoy, slit his throat, and committed suicide by throwing herself into the sea. Following Dalton Greyjoy's assassination, Lady Johanna Lannister successfully petitioned the regency to grant her much of the Greyjoy's share of the Westeros West Ulthos Company in reparation for the damages incurred by Greyjoy privateers after the Lannisters made peace with the blacks.
At the same time, the Daughter's War was raging in Essos and the Stepstones. Immediately after the Dance of the Dragons, tensions rose between the three cities that made up the Triarchy. Myr and Tyrosh accused the Lyseni Admiral Sharako Lohar of keeping his own ships safe during the Battle of the Gullet while expending the might of the Myrish and Tyroshi fleets. In late 131 A.C., Sharako Lohar was killed in a duel over the hand of a courtesan, leading Lys to accuse the other two cities of assassinating their best admiral. A series of assassinations and espionage soon followed, eventually devolving into outright war among the three Free Cities. All three sides augmented their forces with foreign volunteers and mercenaries to the point where half of the combatants were from outside of the Disputed Territories. Most notably, Lord Cregan Stark sent a volunteer force from the remnants of the Winter Wolves led by Hallis Hornwood and Timotty Snow called the Wolf Pack as "advisors," and Ser Oscar Tully led a contingent of rivermen armed with firearms acquired during the Hour of the Wolf in a similar capacity. Both Lords Paramount sought to learn from this war to better train their own burgeoning professional armies.
In early 132 A.C., the Archon of Tyrosh sent Racallio Ryndoon with a large fleet to take the Stepstones. After killing the previous King of the Narrow Sea, Ryndoon rebelled against Tyrosh and proclaimed his own nation of privateers and pirates in the Narrow Sea. In response, the Braavos East Ulthos Company and several other merchant companies in Lorath and Pentos mustered their own fleet to clear the Stepstones and allow unimpeded trade through the narrow sea, engulfing Essos and the Stepstones in a five-way war.
By 133 A.C., it became apparent that Racallio Ryndoon could not hold the Stepstones alone, and Tyrosh had pushed him back to Bloodstone and the surrounding islands. In order to prevent Tyrosh from seizing the archipelago, Lys and Myr formed an uneasy alliance and drove the Tyroshi fleet all the way back to the city. However, Braavos East Ulthos Company and its allies swooped in with its own fleet and routed the allied fleet, taking control of the Stepstones and distributing it among the trading companies and merchants that sailed with the Braavos East Ulthos Company.
The instability in the Stepstones had adverse effects on the already damaged Westerosi economy, and the new Hand of the King, Lord Unwin Peake, decided to send a fleet in early 133 A.C. to clear the islands and ensure the safe passage of merchant ships. He entrusted Ser Gedmund Peake, Ned Bean, and Lord Alyn Velaryon with a fleet of five and thirty ships of the line and fifty frigates to root out Racallio and the trading companies which controlled the Stepstones. However, when the armada resupplied at Tarth, they learned from Lord Bryndemere Tarth that the Braavos East Ulthos Company, Racallio Ryndoon, and Tyrosh entered an alliance, presenting a force that outnumbered the Westerosi fleet three to two. Although Gedmund Peake and Ned Bean decided to wait for further orders from the capital, Alyn decided to attack anyways, leaving with the vast majority of the ships from Tarth. As Braavosi intelligence had that the enemy fleet was still at Tarth, Racallio Ryndoon, the Braavosi captains, and the Tyroshi envoys were feasting at Bloodstone, and Lord Alyn Velaryon fell upon the docked ships in the late hours of the day, catching the numerically superior, yet unprepared ships off guard. Alyn inflicted devastating losses for the coalition, sinking thirty ships and capturing one and ten ships, including six ships of the line and an Ulthman laden with exotic cargo, including an elephant from the Isle of Elephants.
Most notably, the Grand Defiance, the flagship of the Sealord of Braavos and the pride of the Braavosi fleet, was sunk attempting to reach the open seas. Originally built as a large 120-gun ship of the line in order to counter the growing naval might of the newly formed Triarchy in 96 A.C., the Arsenal refitted the Grand Defiance with a fourth deck, something which had not been done since the Doom of Valyria. This gave the Grand Defiance an additional two and twenty cannons, making her the heaviest-armed ship in the world and the pride of the Braavosi fleet. When the Westerosi fleet attacked Bloodstone, her crew managed to unfurl the sails and leave port, albeit without the captain or any commanding officers. She was then engaged by two ships of the line and four frigates, including the 98-gun flagship Queen Rhaenys. Despite a ferocious battle, the Westerosi fleet brought significantly more firepower to bear than the Grand Defiance, and she slowly sunk over the course of an hour as nearly a hundred cannons bombarded her into submission. Lord Alyn only lost three ships in the fight, although his cousin, Daeron Velaryon went down with his ship, the True Heart, when the coastal batteries of Bloodstone targeted his ship.
Despite this astonishing victory, Lord Alyn could not follow up his victory and take the Stepstones, because he left the seaguard at Tarth with Ser Gedmund Peake, the nominal commander of the expedition and was forced to return to King's Landing without any significant territorial gains. Alyn's return was marked by a joyous celebration by the nobility and smallfolk alike. Thousands of citizens cheered him on as he made his way to the throne room with his spoils of war proudly displayed in the procession. When he made it to the Red Keep, Ser Marston Waters knighted him in a lavish ceremony, and Unwin Peake presented him with a gold admiral's chain and a silver model of the Queen Rhaenys. Aegon III also appointed him as Master of Ships, and the smallfolk began to laud him with names such as Oakenfist and the Hero of the Stepstones.
However, Unwin Peake was displeased with Alyn's insubordination, his failure to seize any territory, and causing a major diplomatic incident with Braavos, one of Westeros' largest trading partners and a major regional power in the Shivering Sea. As a result, Unwin Greyjoy tasked Lord Alyn with hunting down the remaining few privateers still interdicting trade from Lannisport and Oldtown, effectively removing him from court and giving him a thankless job. Next, he sent Lord Manfryd Mooton with the captured Ulthman to negotiate with the Sealord and avoid an outright declaration of war between the two nations. Such a war would strain the resources of the Royal Fleet and disrupt the lucrative Shivering Sea trade, something which would send the Westerosi economy spiraling into an even worse economic crisis. Fortunately, that scenario was averted, with the Sealord agreeing for a ceasefire and the withdrawal of the Braavos East Ulthos Company from the Daughters' War in exchange for a large sum of gold.
When Lord Unwin Peake sent Lord Alyn Velaryon to the Sunset Sea, Alyn had to go through the Stepstones with his 88-gun ship, the Lady Baela, and an escort of several frigates and brigantines. Despite going to Bloodstone under a parley flag to resupply, Racallio Ryndoon captured him anyways, ignoring the laws of hospitality that went all the way back to the establishment of the Valyrian Freehold. Racallio held Alyn for over a fortnight, but eventually let him go in return for three of the ships Alyn brought with him, an alliance, and a future kiss from Alyn's wife, Lady Baela Targaryen.
After three moons, Alyn had executed the last pirate raiding in the Sunset Sea and sailed back for King's Landing, stopping at Sunspear to resupply and repair his ships. There, he learned from Princess Aliandra Martell that Dorne had entered the Daughters' War against Racallio Ryndoon and that some Dornish traders had spotted Viserys in Lys. After a flurry of correspondence by raven between the regency and Lord Alyn, he sailed for Lys in early 134 A.C. There, he found Viserys as a captive to the Rogare family and started negotiating for Viserys' release.
Throughout the Daughters' War, the captive Viserys Targaryen was transferred from one captor to the next through a variety of unfortunate circumstances. Following his capture aboard the Gay Abandon, the victorious Admiral Sharako Lohar took Viserys as a trophy prisoner for him to parade around Lys. When Lohar died in the buildup to the Daughters' War, Viserys came into the possession of Magister Bambarro Bazanne. When Bambarro Bazanne was betrayed and killed by mercenaries in the Disputed Lands in 134 A.C., Lysandro Rogare obtained the two and ten year old Targaryen Prince. The Rogare family controlled a small bank which turned into the largest privately owned bank in Essos over the course of half a century. The Rogare family essentially bankrolled Lys throughout the entire Daughters' War, loaning money to the magisters to pay for the thousands of mercenaries, sailors, and soldiers that fought in the war. Seeing an opportunity to steal business away from the Iron Bank of Westeros and handle the lucrative job of managing the Iron Throne's debt, Lysandro married his daughter, Larra of Lys, to Viserys before approaching Lord Alyn Velaryon with his ransom demands.
When Lord Alyn opened discussion for Lysandro Rogare, the negotiations would take two moons to resolve, with Lysandro eventually extracting a concession of a hundred thousand gold dragons, the right to deal with the Iron Throne's debt for twenty years, uphold Viserys's marriage to Larra of Lys, and granting lordships to Lysandro's sons.
When Viserys' returned in mid 134 A.C., Aegon III rejoiced, as one of his greatest regrets was the capture of Viserys during the Dance of the Dragons. The rest of the court also rejoiced at this occasion, with the notable expectation of Lord Unwin Peake. The Hand of the King was outraged at the ransom payment of a hundred thousand gold dragons and the idea of a foreign bank managing the crown's debt, but he was outvoted by the small council and the regency, who overwhelmingly agreed to Lysandro's terms.
After Jaehaera's suicide in 133 A.C., a scramble began as various factions sought to wed Aegon to their bride of choice. First among them was Lord Unwin Peake, who proposed a betrothal to his own daughter, Myrielle Peake, days after Jaehaera's death. However, several Lords Paramount and other influential lords denounced the timing as insensitive and the match as serving only to advance Peake's interest. As such, the regency organized a ball, where a bevy of prospective suitresses would present themselves to the king in the hopes that Aegon would choose one of them.
Initially, the ball was a disaster. Aegon grew visibly disinterested with each maiden that sought his hand in marriage. However, his half-sisters Rhaena and Baela Targaryen presented the six-year old Daenaera Velaryon towards the end of the ball, confidently proclaiming to Aegon that she was the future queen. Despite her young age, Aegon found happiness in her personality and appearance, and the entire royal court agreed that Daenaera might bring Aegon out of his depression. As such, they wed that same year, although the marriage would not be consummated for a decade. Lord Unwin Peake also resigned as Hand of the King in protest to Aegon not choosing Myrielle and left the capital, although he still wielded considerable influence thanks to a network of loyal officials and nobles he established as the Hand.
These two events uplifted Aegon's mood. Alongside the king's improving mood, the Lyseni Spring also brought in an era of economic prosperity alongside the improved mood of the king. The Rogare Bank, which managed to secure a contract in managing the Iron Throne's debt for a century, brought in an influx of foreign investment. Contractors from Essos further developed the Royal Works, which in turn produced a steady revenue stream as the Lords Paramount entered a bidding war to buy the excess munitions and equipment produced by the crown. Ships were purchased and commissioned by the Westeros West Ulthos Company, who took out new loans from the Rogare family, and the harbors on West Pointe and the Iron Islands were greatly expanded to accommodate the new convoys which sailed across the Sunset Sea. The influence of the Rogares in Essos also helped secure lucrative trade deals from cities across the entire continent. Together, this increased spending and investment helped the Westerosi economy to surge back to the level it was at prior to the Dance of the Dragons.
However, the Lyseni Spring would not last. In Westeros, the smallfolk viewed Larra Rogare and her family with xenophobia and superstition, which was only furthered after a series of bad omens in the court, such as the hatching of Laena Velaryon's deformed dragon and the poisoning of Aegon's cupbearer and confidant, Gaemon Palehair. In addition, the Rogare Bank partially attributed its success over other banks in investing more of the money its customers deposited in the bank, which initially allows for greater returns and better interest rates than its competitors. This advantage came at the cost of having less gold reserves, making them more vulnerable to crises or a spate of bad luck and investments.
In mid-135 A.C., the Rogare family's luck ran out. Lysandro and Drazenko Rogare died a day apart from each other, in circumstances that would lead many to theorize that some rivals assassinated the brothers. Whatever the reason may be, Lysaro Rogare, Lysandro's eldest son and successor, was nowhere near as competent as his father, causing an initial wave of withdrawals that depleted the bank's reserves. Sensing weakness in the bank, two major clients, the Braavos East Ulthos Company and the Free City of Norvos, decided to not repay the Rogare Bank, which caused another bank run that would dissolve the bank.
Since most of its depositors were from Essos, the collapse of the Rogare Bank sent nearly all the Free Cities into an economic depression, and the entire city of Lys was out for blood. Nonetheless, the family all managed to evacuate to Westeros or Volantis with the notable exception of Lysaro Rogare, who was flayed to death in front of thousands of Lyseni citizens and unceremoniously hoisted up on a pillar to rot.
Seeing this opportunity, some conspirators in King's Landing sought to undermine the influence that Larra and Rogare family had on the court. Although Moredo Rogare had already escaped to Braavos, the conspirators launched what was a coup in all but name. With the backing of the majority of the Kingsguard and the city watch, the regency ordered all Rogares arrested and their assets seized for conspiracy to overthrow Aegon. In addition, the Kingsguard also arrested the most prominent ally of the Rogares and the Hand of the King, Lord Thaddeus Rowan. Although the branch office on Visenya's Hill and Lotho and Roggerio were captured, Larra and a retinue of a hundred mercenaries managed to flee to Maegor's Holdfast, a fortification within the Red Keep built by the son of Aegon I as public opinion turned against the cruel king.
When a detachment of a dozen Kingsguard headed by Ser Amaury Peake came to arrest Larra, both Viserys and Aegon came to her defense and refused to give her up. Viserys even planted a smallsword into the ground before Maegor's Holdfast, declaring that no one should pass the sword, before joining Larra in the bastion. When the detachment decided to ignore Viserys' ultimatum, Sandoq the Shadow, an infamous marksman that headed Larra's bodyguard retinue, slew them all in under three minutes from the parapets of the holdfast.
What ensued was an eight and ten day siege, as Ser Marston Waters surrounded Maegor's Holdfast with several hundred men. The Kingsguard could not storm the building due to the presence of Aegon, while Aegon could not leave, lest he surrender Larra to the conspirators.
Two and ten days later, Ser Marston Waters brought out Lord Thaddeus Rowan to break the siege. After days of being tortured by the Lord Confessor, Lord George Graceford, the former Hand of the King confessed to plotting to kill Aegon alongside the Rogares. However, Viserys then questioned Lord Rowan himself, and Rowan would immediately answer affirmatively to each question, even though some of these questions were clear falsehoods. As such, Aegon dismissed Rowan's confessions as unreliable evidence and ordered Ser Marston Waters to arrest Rowan's torturers. Lord George Graceford was swiftly arrested by the Kingsguard, after under torture, the Lord Confessor implicated Ser Amaury Peake, Ser Mervyn Flowers, Tessario the Tiger, Septon Bernard, Ser Gareth Long, Ser Victor Risley, Ser Lucas Leygood, and six of the seven captains of the city gate in a conspiracy to kill the Rogares.
What followed were several days of intense firefights and skirmishes between the loyal Kingsguard, headed by Ser Marston Waters, and the conspirators, who had the backing of the goldguard and small elements of the Kingsguard who sided with Ser Mervyn Flowers. In one of these firefights, Ser Mervyn Flowers shot Ser Marston Waters, killing the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, before being beaten to death by vengeful soldiers. Dozens died on both sides, but the loyalist Kingsguard triumphed and captured most of the conspirators, who implicated a series of lesser nobles and officials in the conspiracy as well. Coincidentally, many of these conspirators were staunch supporters of Lord Unwin Peake, although he was not directly implicated in the attempted coup.
In total, two and forty notable lords and ladies were implicated in the plot to kill the Rogares, with another couple hundred common guards, soldiers, and bureaucrats arrested for treason. Of those two and forty, eight were killed during the siege and the subsequent fighting in King's Landing, ten and six managed to flee, ten and three confessed and joined the Night's Watch, and five were put on trial and were either executed after being found guilty or killed in a trial by combat.
As a result of the downfall of the Rogares and the conspiracy to assassinate them, a new council was called to establish a new regency. After drawing lots, the council appointed Lords Willam Stackspear, Marq Merryweather, and Lorent Grandison as the new regents for Aegon. In turn, the regency appointed the new small council, most notably Lord Torrhen Manderly as Hand of the King, Isembard Arryn as Master of Coin, Gedmund Peake as Master of Ships, Ser Raynard Ruskyn as Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, Ser Adrian Thorne as commander of the City Watch, and Maester Rowley as Lord Confessor.
One of the first actions under the new regency was the punishment of the Rogare family, because the collapse of their bank caused a new economic recession in Westeros that erased the growth that happened during the Lyseni Spring. Lotho Rogare had his right hand removed and Roggerio was lashed seven times, and the entire family had hefty fines imposed on them by the crown. As such, the family eventually all departed from King's Landing. Lotho travelled to Oldtown and helped establish the Bank of Oldtown with Samantha Tarly and Lord Lyonel Hightower, now the central bank for the Reach and the primary finacers of trade along the west coast. Roggerio Rogare sold his pillow house in King's Landing and then bought an aging Ulthman, which he converted into a mobile brothel that traversed the narrow sea and also traded in luxury goods. Moredo Rogare took the lion's share of the family's assets in Westeros and used them to purchase an army. Together with Volantis, the Braavos East Ulthos Company, and other Essosi member of his family, Moredo attacked Lys in retaliation for Lysaro's execution and managed to inter his brother's remains in the family crypt, as well as regain some measure of his influence in the Free City. Finally, Larra left Viserys in 139 A.C. to return to Lys and the rest of the family. Although the collapse of the Rogare Bank delayed the continent's economic recovery by several years, the investments and loans made during its apex still helped the Iron Throne return to the economic levels prior to the Dance of the Dragons and also repaired and expanded its infrastructure, paving the way for Isembard Arryn's economic reforms.
Several moons into the regency, Aegon turned six and ten, the age of majority. Motivated by his experiences fighting against the will of his regents and the politicking that led to the secret siege the year prior, the king summarily dismissed all three regents and the Hand of the King in the middle of a small council meeting. While this alienated all four lords, Lord Torrhen Manderly was especially angered by the blunt manner in which he was deposed and would use his influence to undermine Aegon until his death.
Aegon's reign is not especially noteworthy, since the king did not implement any policies of his own and would sink into a further depression that led him to secluding himself completely from the public. It even took nearly a decade to consummate his marriage with Queen Daenaera Velaryon, although they eventually birthed five children: Daeron in 143 A.C., Baelor in 144 A.C., Daena in 145 A.C., Rhaena in 147 A.C., and Elaena in 150 A.C. The only major act he would perform as king was an increase in firearm sales from the Royal Works, for which he would be dubbed Aegon the Dragonbane due to the perception that he gave away the Targaryen's monopoly in gunpowder weaponry
As Aegon shirked from his duties and withdrew from ruling the kingdom, his small council worked to hold the kingdom together in the absence of its ruler. During this time, the most notable members of the small council would be Viserys as Hand of the King, Ser Raynard Ruskyn as Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, and Isembard Arryn as the Master of Coin. Together, these three would further aid in the recovery of the kingdom and the resurgence of the economy by the time Daeron I ascended to the throne.
Viserys assumed the role of Hand of the King after several years and just as many office holders, who would always quit because of Aegon's disinterest in ruling the kingdom and the rampant factionalism in the small council. Viserys quickly put an end to the problems within the small council, by petitioning his brother for more authority and then cracking down on factionalism. In what would become known as the "Great Examination," Viserys and his retinue personally assessed nearly every important officer and bureaucrat and would remove any official who was clearly a political appointee. Not only did this purge remove the factionalism by eliminating appointees who worked for one of the former members of the small council, but it also helped eliminate corruption and streamlined the entire government by replacing incompetent officials with competent ones. Moreover, Viserys knew the limits of his expertise and would often defer to the more qualified members of the small council and gave them free reign to implement these reforms, most notably those of Ser Raynard Ruskyn and Isembard Arryn.
The first was the reformation of the Kingsguard. The combination of the Dance of the Dragons and the casualties incurred during the secret siege robbed the royal army of its power. Combined with the Great Decree and the increased sale of gunpowder weaponry to the Lords Paramount, the Kingsguard was rapidly becoming obsolete as it lost its monopoly on gunpowder in Westeros. Ser Raynard Ruskyn had his work cut out for him. Nonetheless, he had ideas for this reform, after his own experience fighting against gunpowder during the Dance of the Dragons. Namely, Ruskyn came to the realization that if the Kingsguard could not outmatch their opponents numerically, they needed to beat the armies of the Seven Kingdoms in quality.
Ruskyn decided to focus on the training and drilling of the soldiers. At the time, recruits would undergo training for a moon, then would enter the army for several years, where they would undergo drills and exercises occasionally during their service while mostly remaining idle outside of King's Landing. The Lord Commander decided to completely reform this system by increasing the training and drill times. Now, recruits would be trained for a minimum of three moons, longer if they did not meet the minimum marching speed and fire rate expected of the Kingsguard. Moreover, even after entering active duty, they would undergo frequent exercises and drills on a weekly basis to perfect the skills each soldier learned in basic training. To avoid decreasing recruitment rates, Ruskyn petitioned the small council to give a lump sum of a dragon per year of service to any retiring soldier, a small fortune which had thousands of smallfolk across the crownlands clamoring to be recruited into the Kingsguard. Ruskyn also improved unit signalling and the drills themselves by introducing two key developments: a standard set of signals and the goose step.
Signalling was not new to Westeros; outriders always carried messages to and from units during a battle, and Aegon the Conqueror used both flags and drums to initiate his volley on the Field of Fire. However, each Lord Commander developed their own set of signals, forcing the army to relearn signals. There were several instances of confusion occuring the Dance of Dragons, when the Kingsguard or Queensguard would go into an incorrect formation or even dissolve into chaos because the line infantry confused the signal with the formation that the previous Lord Commander used. However, Ruskyn would codify his own signals and write them down in the aptly titled Signals Manual Pertaining to the Formations and Maneuvers of the Kingsguard. As such, the Kingsguard did not need to constantly learn and relearn signals, and Ruskyn would add a series of his own specific maneuvers that drummers and signallers would have to learn, allowing for greater coordination amongst individual units and the entire army.
Ruskyn's second major innovation was the goose step, a new march where each soldier swung their legs in unison while keeping them straight. While the marching in lock-step was known since the days of the Freehold, Ruskyn simplified the march into steps even the dullest infantryman could understand. Furthermore, Ruskyn's march also allowed for a consistent tempo with marching in formation and further improved drilling and the cohesion of the individual units.
Ruskyn's final and most significant innovation was the establishment of the Crownlands Military Academy in 150 A.C. After arguing with Isembard for several years, the Lord Commander managed to obtain a hundred thousand gold dragons to establish a dedicated school for artillerymen and sappers. After purchasing a dilapidated keep two day's ride from King's Landing, the Lord Commander renovated the building, turning it into the first military academy since the Doom of Valyria. There, the literate highborn would learn to become artillery officers and engineers, learning the basic mathematics and tactical maneuvers needed to command these specialized units. The smallfolk would also be relentlessly drilled in these academies, as they practiced moving, loading, and firing cannons dozens of times each day and learned rudimentary reading and mathematics skills to interpret commands from their officers. The establishment of the Crownlands Military Academy not only drastically improved the Kingsguard artillery corps, but it also marked the transition of the knight to the officer. Although this would not be seen until Daeron II's expansion of the Crownlands Military Academy to encompass all senior officers and specialists, the establishment of the military academy carved out a niche for the nobility as commanders and officers, rather than simply heavy cavalry.
Despite Ruskyn's reforms that turned the Kingsguard into the most proficient army in the known world, his accomplishments are overshadowed by those of Isembard Arryn, the Gilded Eagle. During Aegon's regency, Isembard was a claimant to the Eyrie, and briefly revolted against the installment of Joffrey Arryn as the Warden of the East. However, he eventually bent the knee to Joffrey and was appointed Master of Coin in 136 A.C., prior to Aegon's dismissal of the regency.
Isembard's first major action would be a complete tax overhaul. The tax code had not been changed in any meaningful way since Lord Crispian Celtigar first drafted a series of land taxes and tariffs less than a year after Aegon I's coronation. There had been several minor taxes levied to fund specific institutions, but the Gilded Falcon sought to build a new tax code from the ground up. The land tax was simplified into a flat rate of five stags per hide, or the area large enough to support one household. These taxes would be directly paid to the Iron Throne the landowners, which typically meant lesser nobility which owned the lands serfs worked on. In addition, Isembard further taxed the nobility with a window tax, which taxed every residential building, but increased the rate the more windows a building had, therefore taxing the large manses with dozens of windows that belonged to the Westerosi aristocracy. He also lowered tariffs on some easily smuggled goods, namely beverages such as Yi-Tish teas, sourleaf, and foreign alcohol, as to encourage legal, taxed trade over smuggling that brought the crown no revenue. Isembard added a hefty export tariff on all gunpowder, weapons and ships in order to encourage sales from the Royal Works and domestic shipyards. Finally, he also added a progressive income tax ranging from a penny in the stag to a penny in the star, only to be activated in times of war to fund the kingsguard.
When the small council announced Isembard's new series of taxes, the highborn were initially outraged at their higher tax rates, but they were also placated over the less byzantine code and the decrease of tariffs on luxuries. Moreover, the new tax proved to be extremely effective, adding over 100,000 gold dragons per year over the old tax code to the treasury by 150 A.C. and close to 200,000 gold dragons per year during the Conquest of Dorne. However, the Gilded Falcon still was not done yet with his reforms.
Taking inspiration from the Free Cities of Essos, Isembard also issued Westeros' first bonds, backed by the Iron Bank. Taking the form of either a lottery where smallfolk would buy cheap tickets in the hopes of winning prizes whose total value equalled the money raised or simply the issue of the crown's debt to lords as a tradable investment which paid interest, Isembard provided the government with an easy way to raise money for war and major projects.
Isembard's last major reform under Aegon III would be establishing the Iron Exchange, an expansive building set outside of Fishmongers Square designed to sell government bonds, in 150 A.C. Through a combination of government incentives, financial pressure, espionage, and several threats to merchants, Isembard managed to concentrate a series of insurance brokers, trading companies, the Westeros West Ulthos Company, and banks into the Iron Exchange, providing the first major trading exchange on the Continent and a steady revenue stream from trading fees that gradually drew in more and more prominent companies like the Westeros West Ulthos Company, the Braavos East Ulthos Company, and the Bank of Oldtown until the Iron Exchange became the largest exchange in the known world.
Under Isembard's reforms, the crown had a massive budget surplus, and the small council all decided to invest into infrastructure, namely the repair and expansion of roads and towns to end the lasting effects of the Dance of Dragons. Although this project was not at the scale of the kingsroad, the small council expanded over a dozen minor ports into sizeable commercial harbors and connected over fifty smaller towns and castles to the kingsroad, promoting further trade and ease of movement. Under the guidance of such a competent small council, the six kingdoms flourished in spite of Aegon III's negligence and saw a period of growth that would last until the end of the century.
In 157 A.C., Aegon III died from consumption, leaving his ten and four year old son, Daeron I Targaryen, to inherit the throne. Aegon's moniker of "The Broken King" is an apt summarization of his regency and reign. His traumatic experiences during the Dance of Dragons left Aegon with little joy or interest in anything, resulting in an apathetic king who did not look after his subjects. When combined with his signing of the Great Charter, Aegon's legacy would be that of weakening the dynasty and ending its primary advantage over its subjects. His only saving trait would be his brother, Viserys II, who Aegon essentially entrusted the administration of Westeros to. Viserys would lead a cabal of talented reformers in the small council that brought much-needed reforms to the kingdoms and spearheaded the recovery efforts from the Dance of Dragons. As such, the period in which Aegon III presided over was one of growth and renewal, although the king had little responsibility for its period of prosperity.
Author's Note:
After 10 months, I'm back! I initially hit a roadblock due to a combination of COVID, my job, and the fact I was disinterested in Aegon III, since quite a few events happen, although these events are mostly politicking and intrigue. Then I forgot about this project for about 8 months and started work on something completely different.
It was somewhat of a pain to find decent sources on early modern military training and taxation. Anyways, Isembard Arryn's tax reforms are primarily based on Pitt the Younger, while the other stuff is just ways to introduce proto-capitalism to Westeros. I was thinking of creating a Westerosi equivalent of Adam Smith and having Isembard essentially implement capitalism, but I realized that there was a 70-year gap between The Wealth of Nations and the UK actually implementing laissez-faire capitalism (with the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846).
I think Aegon's depiction here may be on the harsher side, but his entry in A World of Ice and Fire is similarly negative.
Regarding the Kingsguard, I am intending to set up something similar to the Caroleans, an elite but small army, and then Daeron would be equivalent to Charles XII.
Next will be Daeron, Baelor I, and Viserys II.
Finally, I welcome any feedback on my prose or worldbuilding.
To ATP: I think your numbers are off. My sources have the longbow's effective range at closer to 200-300 meters, which isn't far off from the effective range of a Brown Bess (175-200 meters). British infantry took anywhere from a half a year to a full year to train.
Moreover, we are talking hypothetical numbers here. A longbowmen's rate of fire is going to fall off as the battle draws on, effective range is going to be limited by terrain and gunpowder smoke, and accuracy is going to drop in the stress of a battlefield. Moreover, muskets also have an advantage in armor piercing.
There was an instance of composite bows being used at Leipzig; you can look up Baron de Marbot's memoirs (free on Project Gutenburg). Here is what he had to say about Tartar mounted archers:
"With much shouting, these barbarians rapidly surrounded our squadrons, against which they launched thousands of arrows, which did very little damage because the Baskirs, being entirely irregulars, do not know how to form up in ranks and they go about in a mob like a flock of sheep, with the result that the riders cannot shoot horizontally without wounding or killing their comrades who are in front of them, but shoot their arrows into the air to describe an arc which will allow them to descend on the enemy. But as this system does not permit any accurate aim, nine-tenths of the arrows miss their target, and those that do arrive have used up in their ascent the impulse given to them by the bow, and fall only under their own weight, which is very small, so that they do not as a rule inflict any serious injuries. In fact, the Baskirs, having no other arms, are undoubtedly the world's least dangerous troops."
Thanks to Eaglebucky for pointing out that this chapter was originally a repeat.